Noon-Air wrote:


They can probably still be found and prosecuted


I tried to get them to do it, but they have given up.


I was a mechanical engineer... we got to play with things that had moving
parts :-)


I tested out of three years at Ft. Monmoth New Jersey's electronics
school and was awarded my MOS as a civilian acquired skill while I was
in basic training at Ft. Knox, Kentucky. That was the main reason I
didn't re-enlist. I caught a lot of flak from people who didn't like
that I was only in the service a couple months before I was doing the
same work they were, without going to the military school. They got
really ****ed that I could take a quick look at defective equipment and
fix it before they could dig out the manuals and their notebooks. I
even repaired RADAR equipment for a couple weeks while they were short
handed. The RADAR techs were highly ****ed when I told them that I had
read the manuals for a WWII surplus aircraft RADAR system while I was in
high school, and that it wasn't that different from a TV set. Anyone
remember the 15E RF tube and the 15R rectifier? Electronics has always
been easy to me.


Someday I will have to write a book about all of the things we did....and
even some of the stuff we *didn't* get caught doing. LOL


The engineers at Ft Greely insisted that we didn't need any air
conditioning at the TV station, then claimed that we didn't have enough
power for the 208/240 single phase through the wall AC we had bought out
of our budget. It was six feet from a 100 amp three phase breaker box
that was used to power the control room and transmitters. I popped off
the cover to find that some genius had only used one phase, leaving me
100 amps at 208 VAC available to run a 30 amp unit. They still refused
to hook it up, so I called one of the enlisted men who worked in that
section. He rummaged around a few abandoned buildings and brought me
what I needed to hook it up myself. We cooled the TV studio by opening
the back door in the winter time. the -40 degree air did a nice job
cooling the set, till a bear tried to get in one night.


Enlisted men are extremely sly and cunning, and bear considerable watching.
-Army Officers Manual 1836


I worked in the "Weathervision" section at Ft Rucker Alabama, which
included CATV, Educational TV, CARS Microwave and other assorted
equipment. Our mission was to provide weather data to the control
towers, flight ready rooms and classrooms where they taught the
helicopter pilots to fly. We also maintained the entertainment CATV
systems on the base, in parts of the on base housing areas. Some idiot
cut the cable feeding our day room and pulled it to his room in the
barracks. I reported it to the civilian contractor, but three days later
it was still out, so I borrowed one of our bucket trucks from my section
and repaired it at lunch time. I was just finishing up when the guy
showed up. He was rather upset, till he found out that i had not only
repaired it, but I moved the drop to where the moron couldn't reach it
where it ran from the pole to the roof of the three story brick
building. Then he told me that he was the only tech that serviced the
base, and that I could put a drop into my one man room on the second
floor, as long as I hid it for inspections. He offered me the supplies,
but I had enough used stuff in the truck to do the job. The following
Monday afternoon I got back from my duty section to find that the wire
had been pulled loose from the hook outside my window, and run into the
CQ room of the other company. I told them that it was MY drop that they
had stolen. I received an obscene gesture and a threat, so i smiled and
left. A couple hours later when they turned their TV on, I got a really
good grip on the wire from my second floor window and pulled, really
hard. I heard a loud crash, and a lot of cursing. Then they were
pounding on my door, demanding that I give it back, and pay to replace
their TV. It never happened, and I had cable TV till the day I left for
Alaska. ;-)


The sig file is there to be in the face of a moron who has been
stalking me on line for some time, and a couple idiots who don't think
much of the US military, and veterans in general.

I bet he never served.... probably a draft dodger that ran to Canade from
the Peoples Repubic of Berkeley.


He's a mental welfare case. Neither our military, or Canada would
have him.


When I got my draft notice, I was on USCGC Glacier in the Bearing Sea.

BTW, the quarterly memorial for Veterans who have died in marion
County Florida in the past quarter is this morning, but I'm not well
enough to attend.

Hopefully next time you will be able to attend. In any case, I salute you.

Thank you, and you as well. My mission to help local disabled
Veterans is to repair and give away used computers to those who want,
but can't afford a computer a used system that will let them do email
and browse the web. The VA recently upgraded the computers that handle
prescriptions, and those of us under the VA's care can refill their
prescriptions online. http://www.myhealthevet.va.gov/


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida